Hymns For The Amusement of Children - Hymns For The Amusement of Children

In essence, the Hymns for the Amusement of Children is intended to teach children the specific virtues that make up the subject matter of the work. While trying to accomplish this goal, Smart emphasizes the joy of creation and Christ's sacrifice that allowed for future salvation. However, he didn't just try to spread joy, but structured his poems to treat valuable lessons about morality; his subjects begin with the three Theological Virtues (Faith, Hope, and Charity), then the four Cardinal Virtues (Prudence, Justice, Temperance, and Fortitude) and adds Mercy. The next six hymns deal with Christian duties and are followed by ten hymns on the Gospels. The final works introduce the miscellaneous Christian virtues that were necessary to complete Christopher's original self-proclaimed "plan to make good girls and boys."

All but three of the hymns were provided with a corresponding woodblock illustration. The original illustrations either represented the scene of the hymn or a symbolic representation of the hymn. However, later editions of the work sometimes included illustrations that did not match the corresponding hymn, which was the fault of "a general deterioration of standards in book production". With such possibilities, it is hard to justify an exact relationship between any particular hymn and illustration.

There are thirty-nine hymns included in Hymns for the Amusement of Children: